Birth of the Data-Knights
by Arguyus
Summary: Eons ago, the Keyblade Knights held the darkness at bay, but they are no more. Without them there, the Heartless have been free to move as they please. Their movement may seem random; but, if you look closer, a sinister pattern becomes visible. Soon, the truth of this will be revealed by two friends from Earth Delta.
1. A Sword and Shield, of Sorts

(Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material you will encounter in this or any other story.)

(AN: This story is a collab story withMentalis. It was one that we thought of on a Memorial Day picnic, hope you enjoy!)

Chapter 1: A Sword and Shield, of Sorts

May 27th: 2013: Earth Delta

It was a warm summer day in Mississippi, and two friends were talking as they helped pack up the supplies that their respective families brought for their church's Memorial Day picnic. The center of their conversation was an old brass key that one of them had brought to show to the other.

"I know, they just don't make keys this cool anymore." Said the older of the two. His name is Stephen McIntyre; he is about 5' 5" with light blue eyes, sandy blond hair, glasses, and pasty white skin. He was nineteen years old, which made him one of the oldest kids there.

"Maybe we should start a company that makes old-fashioned keys just for the sake of it." The other suggested in a joking manner. His name was David Hammond; he is about 5' 8" with hazel eyes, near black hair, and well-tanned skin. He was sixteen years old.

Both friends laughed at this, neither of them having any clue that they were about to experience a life changing event.

Before ether of them could get to their family's cars, several large black and purple portals opened in the air with a large number of pitch black creatures jumping out of them.

Both boys dropped the things they were holding as they quickly backed away from the yellow eyed creatures.

"Are-Are those…" Stephen began as he subconsciously held the key to his family's van as if his life depended on it.

"Heartless." David stated as he held on to the old brass key in much the same way Stephen held the van key.

This was about the time that chaos broke out as everyone else saw the Heartless, all of them screaming as the horde moved forward in a wave. Unfortunately, both David and Stephen were the ones closest to the mass of darkness and were quickly overcome. Soon, all they could see was black.

Just as they began to accept their fate, they saw a small light ahead of them. They knew this was their only chance to survive, so the pushed forward with all their might. At first, nothing happened.

Then…

An explosion of light blasted a crater into the swarm. In the middle of this crater were two boys, each one of them holding a key shaped blade. Stephen's looked almost like a blown-up version of the key to his family's van with the blade at a perpendicular orientation to the handle and the clicker as the key chain. David's looked more like an axe made from two old-fashioned brass keys with a more standard parallel blade to handle orientation and a piece of brass carved into the shape of a chest for the key chain.

They both just stood there for a few seconds, their minds desperately trying to catch up with what they were seeing. The two of them were Kingdom Hearts fans, so they immediately recognized the weapons they were holding.

Keyblades.

The screams of their friends and family soon broke them out of their stupor.

With a glance at each other, they both knew what needed to be done. They began swinging their new found weapons with mixed results. David used wide, heavy swings to obliterate multiple Heartless at once. Stephen, on the other hand, had a much harder time because of the unusual blade to handle orientation of his Keyblade. Neither of them where that good at actual combat, all they had used before now were foam swords and sticks.

A heartless suddenly jumped at Stephen from the midst of the sea of black in front of him. When he noticed this, he instinctively lifted his left arm to try and protect himself and closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch as his arm was torn to bits. He grimaced as he waited for the pain to start.

Nothing.

Curious as to why he wasn't feeling excruciating pain, he opened his eyes. A green circular shield was hovering in front of his arm, and there was a watch like device that he hadn't noticed before on his arm. As he looked closer at the ornate pattern, he saw multiple strings of ones and zeroes racing across its surface.

He took a quick look at David and saw that he had a similar device on his arm, except for the fact that the one David had looked like a hard drive from a computer attached to a pseudo-gauntlet.

"David! We have shields!" Stephen yelled over the heat of battle.

When David heard that, he held up his arm and willed a shield to form. And form it did. A green tower shield blasted into existence forming from neon green ones and zeroes. He immediately put this shield to good use by deflecting a jumping Heartless.

So the two continued to fight, unaware of the fact that they had already lost.

|-0-|

Bible Baptist Church, West Point

The main auditorium of this building would look like the inside of any other building to any normal person. But they would be wrong about that. Dead wrong.

The large crowd Heartless that now stood inside knew this building's hidden secret. In this very place, resided this world's Keyhole. The opening to this world's heart. It's exact location, the pulpit.

A small, round bodied Heartless with a spherical head, two squiggly antennas, and two piercing yellow eyes walked up to the pulpit with a herky-jerky gate. It stared at it for a few seconds, then it jumped at Keyhole so it could corrupt this world's heart.

|-0-|

The two boys fought on with little effect on the massive hoard of Heartless that were besieging them, but they were steadily running out of strength. Their novice fighting styles using too much strength, mixed with the fact that at least two Heartless replaced every one they killed, was draining the fight out of them. Both of them were beginning to come to terms with the fact that they would both die if they kept on like this.

Then, the whole world shook.

Both of them were knocked of their feet, but, fortunately for them, all of the Heartless retreated into the void.

"Why are they running? They almost had us?" Stephen asked as he got to his feet. It's not that he was hoping to die, but if something was so bad that Heartless run from it, then it had to be very bad indeed.

"I think I know why…" David replied, pointing up to the sky as he did.

When Stephen joined his friend in looking at the sky, he understood what David was talking about. The sky was falling apart like old plaster from a rotting building. Both friends looked at each other in sudden recognition.

"They found the Keyhole!" They yelled out in unison.

As the earth beneath them began tremble beneath their feet, they saw a massive wave of darkness that looked to be taller than Mt. Everest coming straight for them.

"Run!" Stephen yelled as he began to take his own advice.

They didn't get far before the wave caught them, throwing them into the void as they screamed in fear for their lives.

|-0-|

Equestria – Canterlot, Canterlot Castle

On a balcony of a large white marble castle stood two horse like beings, one alabaster white and the other a deep midnight blue. Both of them had large wings on their backs, long horns on their heads, and manes that flowed in an ethereal breeze. These two were none other than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The two Royal Sisters stood side-by-side as they watched for an anomaly that they had started to notice not too long ago.

"There, sister! That star right there!" Luna exclaimed as she pointed at a particular star.

Celestia's gaze followed her sister's hoof, leading her to the star. It was blinking in and out, the time it was out getting longer with each blink. Finally, with a flash, the star disappeared. The star had died.

"No explosion, it should have gone super nova." Celestia pointed out as she continued to regard the empty void the star had once occupied.

Luna nodded in agreement, "It felt cold every time its light went out."

"Whatever this is, it does not bode well." Celestia said as she took on her famous poker-face, but underneath it was an emotion that she hadn't felt for a long time…

Fear.

8|:|8

AN: I know this chapter seems rushed, but I had a hard time starting this one.

New Key chains unlocked!

Family Van: A short bladed Keyblade that is completely built for magic.

Old Memories: A long bladed Keyblade that is perfect for delivering heavy blows.

New Data Shields unlocked!

Broadband Buckler: A Buckler class Data Shield made more for quick movement then defense.

CPU Tower: A Tower class Data Shield that provides amazing defense, but slightly impairs maneuverability.

New Heartless Data Track unlocked!

Shadow: The smallest of the Pure Blood Heartless, often using their greater numbers to overwhelm their target.


	2. Bad News from the Stars

(Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material you will encounter in this or any other story. This is the edited version.)

(AN: That's right, Stephen and David survived.)

Chapter 2: Bad News from the Stars

The Everfree, a place of constant darkness. Most on this world would never go here, but two beings from another had no choice in the matter.

"Ugh..." was the groan of pain that the taller of the two let out as he began to come to.

The shorter of the two came too soundlessly and opened his eyes, the sight of almost interlocking tree branches meeting his eyes. He sat up slowly, trying not to aggravate his aching head. He blinked several times to try and adjust to the light so it wouldn't be so dark, only to realize that it was actually this dark naturally and not because of his eyes.

It was then that he remembered something. "David? Where are you?"

"I'm right here, Steve…" came the reply.

Stephen looked up in the direction the voice came from and saw his friend suspended in low hanging branches. The position he was in didn't look all too comfortable. This being as it was, Steve got up and helped his friend down as best as he could.

"So, now that you're down on Terra-Fermi again, do you have any clue as to where we are?" Stephen asked his recently de-treed friend as he looked at their surroundings.

Trees, exotic plants, and darkness; those were the only three things they could see. Strange bird calls echoed all around them, but there was not a bird to be seen. The darkness hung in the air as if it were a fog instead of a shadow. There was very little light penetrating the thick canopy, and the light that was getting through came to the ground in small shafts of gold.

David looked around for a few more seconds before he spoke. "I don't know, but I don't like the vibe I'm getting from this place."

"Me neither, but which way should we go?" The older boy asked as he continued to look around.

David thought about this for a bit, "You still have your Keyblade, right?"

Stephen summoned his Keyblade and held it point up, "Of course. You know as well as I do that one can't really lose a Keyblade."

"Can I see it for a little bit?"

Stephen shrugged and handed his blade to his friend.

David put it and the ground and spun it like a top. It spun for a minute or two before it slowly came to a stop. He made an arrow on the ground in the same direction the blade was pointing.

"Let's go this way." He said, handing the Keyblade back to it's owner.

Stephen looked at his friend in confusion. "What? That's it?"

David looked back at him, "I'm sure you remember that the Keyblades are alive."

"Then it would stand to reason that they can control themselves to a limited extent!" Stephen exclaimed in understanding, "That's just brilliant!"

And with that, the two set out.

|-0-|

"I still don't get why we're here, this is egg-head stuff." Complained a sky blue pegasus with a rainbow mane as she hovered in place with her forehooves crossed.

"Rainbow Dash, if something like what happened to that star I saw last night were to happen to our sun, it could end all life in Equestria!" A lavender purple unicorn with a mostly dark royal purple mane explained to the now identified Rainbow Dash in a panicked voice.

A white unicorn with a curly purple mane walked toward the other unicorn, "Twilight dear, I know you are distressed, but I don't think there is anything we can do about this."

The purple unicorn, Twilight, sighed and began to rub her temples, "I know you're right, Rarity, but there must be _something_ we can do. I mean, I have already sent the princesses a letter regarding this, but I haven't received a reply yet."

"Maybe they are trying to figure it out too." Suggested a gold colored pegasus with a rose pink mane in a quiet voice, barley loud enough to be heard by her friends.

"That sounds reasonable to me. Ah know Ah ain't ever heard of a star blinkin' out before." Said an orange pony with a blond mane, but had neither wings or a horn.

"But aren't they supposed to be smarty-smart-pants that know almost everything?" Asked a hot pink colored wingless, hornless pony with a slightly darker pink mane in a chipper tone that she almost always had.

The other five that were present just looked at her.

"What?" She inquired innocently.

"Pinky," Twilight began, "They _do_ know almost everything, and if they don't know what caused that star to die like that like Fluttershy is suggesting, then this is bad. Very, very bad."

"Hmm, if only someone was here who was actually _there_, so they could tell us what happened…" Rarity said in a slightly dramatic way.

Almost as soon as the white unicorn said that, Pinky's body had what would look to those that didn't know her like a mini-seizure.

"Oh, oh! Somepony new is coming to town!" The pink pony cried out as she began jumping around in circles.

"Pinky, all of Equestria could be in danger, and all you can think about is that some new pony is coming here?!" Twilight practically yelled at her friend.

The orange pony put a hoof on her friend's shoulder, "Now calm down there, Twi. Maybe whoever it is can help us understand what happened."

Twilight took a deep breath then exhaled, "I hope you're right, Applejack."

She turned to her pink friend, "I'm sorry for yelling at you Pinky; I got worked up about what I saw last night and took my stress out on you. Can you forgive me?"

"Only if you help me greet the new pony." Said the pink pony jokingly, after thinking about it for a moment.

Twilight smiled at her, "How about we all go?"

The other four ponies chimed in in agreement. So they went to greet the newcomers, five of them following Pinky as she led the way to where she believed the newcomers would come from.

|-0-|

Stephen and David were just exiting the forest in which the had awoken, both with their Keyblades resting on their shoulders.

"Wow, that trick actually works in real life." Stephen commented, using his free hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun.

David chuckled at his friend's comment, and then looked straight ahead, "Hey, look! There's a town over there!"

Stephen shifted his gaze to where his friend was looking, and there it was. Most of the homes were wooden houses with straw thatched roofs; there were exceptions, such as one house that looked like a gingerbread house…

Wait…

A gingerbread house?

It seemed awfully familiar…

And so did the white and purple building he could barely see beyond the others…

He looked to his right and saw a familiar looking tree with a white picket fence running around it's perimeter and what appeared to be a large number of bird houses all around it.

"Dave," He began, "I think I know where we are…"

"Really?"

Stephen looked at the town once more before he spoke, "I think we're in Equestria, and that's Ponyville."

"And there are the main six." David said as he looked ahead of him seemingly in a trance.

Stephen followed his friend's gaze, and though he could barely see them, he knew it was them. The pink one was obviously Pinky Pie, the orange one was Applejack, the white one was Rarity, the yellow one was Fluttershy, and the purple one was Twilight Sparkle.

Wait a minute.

Where was Rainbow Dash?

He heard a whooshing sound above them. Oh no…

He looked up and saw her, a blue blur with a rainbow contrail. She was flying straight at them at full speed!

"David! Look out!" He cried out as he pushed his friend out of the way.

He held up his arm to protect himself some, his shield activating of its own accord. Then she hit him, the shield taking the full force of the blow. It was now that he learned a very useful fact about his mysterious shield: it can easily absorb a tremendous amount of force with very little knock back.

|-0-|

The other five members of the main six were shocked to say the least; this being had taken the full force of Rainbow Dash impacting at her full supersonic flight speed, and had barely moved an inch!

Rainbow just hovered there for a few moments, then she flew backwards and began shaking her hooves as if she had touched something hot, "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

The being's shield and weapon disappeared in a flash of light, and then it crossed its arms and spoke, "You really should work on that "attack on sight" problem you have. You left yourself wide open to a counter attack both when you were charging and after you hit my shield."

"Oh yeah, then why didn't you?" The confrontational pegasus challenged.

"Maybe because we don't intend on hurting anyone." The being responded in an obviously upset tone of voice.

The other one, whose name was apparently David, decided to put in his two cents worth, "You really shouldn't judge other people before you get to know them. One would think your parents would have taught you that years ago."

Twilight saw that Rainbow was about to offer ether a rebuttal or an insult, so she decided to intervene, "I'm sorry about that. Rainbow is just overprotective when she sees something or someone that doesn't look, well…"

"Normal?" The shorter one finished.

"Well, yes." The purple mare began, and then she started to stutter, "B-but i-it's not t-that you're weird o-or anything, it's j-just… oh dear…"

"Don't worry; we understand what you are trying to say." The one called David told her gently.

"Now then, we have a very important message to give to your leaders." The other said, as his face took on serious expression.

"Really now? Just how important is this "very important message" of yours?" Dash challenged, being her usual stubborn self.

The older of the two fixed his eyes on her with an expression so serious that only Princess Celestia could match it before he answered, "So important that the lives of not only every being in your own lands, but the life of everything in your whole world is at stake."

|-0-|

Inside the Golden Oaks Library, David and Stephen leaned against a wall as they waited for the princesses to arrive. Both of them were nervous on the inside, but they knew that the news that they had was far too important to let their nerves get the better of them. They were also thinking about what happened to their world. It was gone, all of it, and only they were left.

They had to try and prevent that from happening to this world.

The ponies sat in various places around the main floor, all of them trying not to stare at the two humans that were in the room with them. All of them felt differently about the humans; Rainbow Dash didn't trust them, Applejack was worried about what the message they had to give was and how it might affect her family, Pinky Pie was being her normal bubbly self (and hoping that the meeting would finish soon, so they could have a welcoming party!), Rarity was trying her hardest to not start studying the clothes of their guests (...and failing. I mean, how in the world did they make those?), Fluttershy was worrying about her animal friends, and Twilight Sparkle was curious about where they came from, and what message was so important that they had to tell the princesses immediately.

Not a word had been said since Twilight had sent the letter to the princesses; the mood wasn't very conducive to small talk.

The front door of the library abruptly swung open as six guards entered the room and took up positions along the wall. Stephen and David straightened up, and the mares got to their hooves. Two tall ponies entered the room, both of them had large wings and long horns. One was alabaster white with a mane that looked like an Aurora, the other was a deep midnight blue with a mane that looked like a piece of the night sky.

They were none other than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, respectively.

All the mares bowed in respect to them; the two boys bowed at the waist to show their respect as well.

"It's good to see you again, Twilight. I just wish the circumstances were different." Celestia told her student when she had fully entered the room.

Luna turned her cerulean eyes to the humans, "We assume that thou art the ones who hath a message for us ."

Stephen nodded, "You are correct, your majesty. My name is Stephen McIntyre, and this is my friend, David Hammond. As for the message, we have good reason to believe that your world will soon be invaded by Heartless."

"Heartless? I have never heard of that race." Celestia stated, with an inquisitive look on her face.

"They aren't a race, they're a plague. The Heartless are creatures made of pure darkness; they consume the darkness in a being's heart to make more of themselves. They are always hungry for hearts, so hungry that they will seek out the heart of a world so that they can consume it, killing the world and everything on it." David told the alicorn.

"Oh yeah, and how do you know that?" Rainbow challenged as she hovered with her forelimbs folded, displaying her distrust of the humans.

Stephen's expression changed from serious to saddened, "Because they just destroyed our world, and only the two of us made it."

That killed the blue pegasus' confrontational mood, and elicited a gasp from the other members of the main six.

"Are you going to tell us that we should try and destroy them just because they destroyed your world?" Luna asked with a stern look on her face.

Stephen shook his head, "No, that would be an extremely foolish and completely hopeless endeavor. They outnumber us several hundred billion to one. The only way we can ensure minimal casualties is to try and evacuate as many people from this world as we possibly can."

There was silence as the ponies in the room let what had been said sink in. Even the guards looked surprised.

"How do you propose we do that?" Celestia inquired in a soft voice that sounded almost like Fluttershy.

"We will help you as best we can to build a fleet of ships. They are going to have to be big and will have to be self-sustaining so that those on board don't have to worry about running out of supplies." Stephen told her, as he began planning out how he and his friend could help.

"Sister, we could use the old sparring grounds as the construction site." Luna put in.

The solar princess thought about this for a short time: they were telling her that this course of action was best for her subjects. Even if it wasn't, it would allow them to visit other worlds. She just hoped she was making the right choice.

"Very well, we will begin planning as soon as we arrive at Canterlot. Both of you will be assigned rooms in the palace, provided you aid in the planning and construction process, of course." Celestia said to the displaced humans.

"Your Majesties, I would like to watch the planning and construction of these ships. It sounds like it would be a fascinating subject of study." Twilight requested.

Celestia looked at her student, then back at the two boys, "Only if neither of you have any objections."

David looked at Stephen, who shrugged, "That shouldn't be a problem." He said, smiling at the inquisitive pony.

Upon hearing this, Twilight's smile turned so wide that it threatened to split her face in half, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Now that it is settled, let us get started." Luna said.

With that, the five of them went outside and got on the chariot. As they began to lift off the ground, Twilight started to wave to her friends. And so it was that the two Keybladers started a journey that would lead them from this world to many other strange places... as soon as they built the ship.

8|:|8

AN: Warning; next chapter will have lots of sciencey things in it.


	3. Plan in Motion

(Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material you will encounter in this or any other story.)

(AN: And now they are starting to plan the space ship.)

Chapter 3: Plan in Motion

Canterlot Castle: A building made of tall, white marble towers. This normally busy locale was alive with more activity than normal. The reason for all this activity? The arrival of the two Keyblade wielders, and the planning of a space faring ship to evacuate the planet.

Speaking of the Keybladers, one of them was just coming out of his room.

"What took you so long, Steve?" David asked his friend.

Stephen looked at his friend, "I just want to look presentable. Besides, we will still get there before the planning session starts."

David just shook his head, "Barely."

"Let's get going." Stephen said as he rolled his eyes.

|-0-|

Celestia and Luna were in what would normally be the War Room, which would normally be empty. Now however, it was filled with many of the greatest scientific minds and most successful air-ship builders in Equestria, including Twilight Sparkle. Most of them were conversing quietly with one another; all of them were awaiting the arrival of the two 'humans', as they called themselves.

The doors to the room opened with a flourish to reveal two bipedal beings that looked like hairless apes.

"I see you like to make 'dramatic entrances.'" Luna stated with a flat expression.

Stephen just shrugged, "A little, but I think it's best if we get onto the topic that we're all here for."

This statement was met with a chorus of agreement from the assembled ponies.

"So, to begin with, we need to determine just how many passengers each one of these ships will carry. Personally, I think we should try for at least ten thousand per ship." The boy said, thereby commencing the planning session.

"How can we possibly make an aerodynamic ship that big?" One of the air-ship builders asked.

Stephen just looked blankly at the pony for a moment before answering, "There isn't any air in space, it's a complete vacuum."

Luna facehooved, "Do most ponies not know that basic fact?"

|-0-|

The meeting had gone on for a few hours before they decided to break for lunch. They had decided on the basic shape of the ship: a rectangular ship with one large main engine on each side and a large bridge structure with a design similar to that of the engines. The next step was to plan out the internal systems.

Celestia, Luna, Twilight, David, and Stephen were sitting at the table in the main banquet hall of the palace. There wasn't any conversation at the table.

"Is something wrong, Stephen?" Twilight inquired, breaking the silence.

The human in question looked up from his plate and turned toward the mare, "Huh? Oh… nothing is wrong, just thinking."

"May we inquire what you are thinking about?" Luna asked from her place at the table.

"Well, the generator is the most important internal component of the ship. I have a basic idea of what it should look like and how it would work, but we need to think about how exactly it is going to work." He told them as he took out a pen, and began to doodle on a napkin.

"The basic idea I have is a motor that spins independently rotating arms at high speeds inside of a track that collects the energy and sends it to all of the ship's systems, but I don't know how exactly to make this generate energy."

The others at the table thought about this. He had a point about the generator being the most important part.

Twilight suddenly perked up, "How about crystals with a 'kinetic energy to electric energy field' enchantment on them?"

"Say what now?"

"It is most commonly known as a 'speedometer enchantment', as that is what it is most commonly used for, speedometers. The spell makes it so that when the object it is used on is exposed to kinetic energy, it generates a field of electric energy. The more kinetic energy, the more powerful the energy field." The lavender mare explained.

"That's exactly what we need! That's just brilliant, Twilight!" Stephen exclaimed, with a big smile on his face.

Twilight smiled modestly as a light blush came to her cheeks.

"It is good to see that we have solved what could have been a major problem. Now, let us finish our lunch." Celestia said with a soft smile on her face.

|-0-|

The planning went on for few hours more. The team had almost finished the blueprints when…

"Your majesties! Strange black creatures are attacking the town square!" A guard yelled as he burst through the door.

David looked up from the table with a start, "Did they have a heart shaped emblem on their body?"

"Y-Yes, they did!" The guard confirmed.

"We need to get down there, now!" Stephen yelled, rising from his place.

Twilight trotted over to the boys, "I can teleport both of you there. Just hold on to me!"

Both boys put a hand on her shoulder. Then, with a flash of bright purple light, the three of them found themselves in town square. The screams of the town's ponies turned their attention to where the trouble was.

And there they were, Heartless. Shadows, and Heartless that were more humanoid in appearance with sharp red claws, a blue body, a Heartless emblem on their chest, and a silver, jaw-like helmet.

Stephen took command of the situation, summoning his Keyblade as he did so, "We've got Shadows and Soldiers! David, press the attack; Twilight, you organize the civilians; I'll try to keep them from getting to close to them!"

David nodded and called upon his own Keyblade and shield, then he ran towards the group of dark beings. Stephen was about to take up a guard position, but he stopped when he saw the Heartless split into two groups, one attacking David and the other running straight at him.

"Change of plans. They seem to want to fight just us, David!" Stephen shouted as he activated his shield, and readied himself for battle.

He thrust his blade forward and impaled a Soldier through its emblem, causing it to disintegrate into black smoke and a glowing heart. Leaping forward, another Soldier succeeded in clawing his left shoulder. He jumped back, hissing in pain, and looked over to see how David was faring.

David was doing much better, his large Keyblade giving him an advantage. Not to mention the fact that he had a more normal Keyblade as compared to Stephen's car key shaped one. Stephen swung his blade and took out two Shadows before he was forced to block a claw swipe from a Soldier.

"David! I could use an assist!" He yelled to his friend, as the Heartless began forcing him back.

Hearing his cry, David began bashing through the Heartless, using his shield as a battering ram. 'This is taking too long', he thought to himself. Suddenly an idea struck him, and, changing his grip on his Keyblade, he sent in flying horizontally in a Strike Raid attack. He was met with partial success; whereas it did destroy a large amount of Heartless, his blade didn't come flying back to him, as he expected it would.

Stephen dispatched the last two Soldiers with a slash, leaving just five Shadows. Summoning his Keyblade, David destroyed four of them with two swift strokes. The last one made a portal of darkness and escaped.

"I take it that those are the Heartless which you told us about?" Celestia asked as she walked into the square.

"Those were just a scouting party, and it only consisted of two of the weakest varieties of Heartless." Stephen told her as he put a hand over his injury.

"They didn't seem that strong to me." Luna stated with a flat look.

David turned to face her, "It's not strength that is on their side, it's numbers. Not to mention that they can reform if they are dispersed by any weapon other than a Keyblade."

"But the fact that they were here can only mean one thing: we're running out of time." Stephen said, an ominous tone in his voice.

|-0-|

Unknown location

The room was filled with near-complete darkness, the only light being a small shaft that came in through a hole in the ceiling. A dark throne rested just out of the illumination of the light, allowing one to just barely see the silhouette of the one that sat there. The being's glowing yellow irises were the only thing that allowed one to know where its eyes were.

A dark portal opened to let a Shadow enter the room, speaking to the dark being by telepathy upon doing so, "My lord, we have found that the world you sent us to is one of the kind of worlds you seek."

The figure leaned forward slightly, "Well done, little one. We are now one world closer to my goal."

"But master, there are Keyblade wielders there, the ones from Earth Delta." The Shadow informed the figure.

"Is that so... I was hoping that I wouldn't have to deal with any for at least two more months. Oh well." The figure said, in a uncaring voice.

The Shadow hobbled a little closer, "But what if they find the Keyhole?"

The being laughed, "I already know where that world's Keyhole is. I'll assemble the troops. Wait for my order to attack."

The Shadow bowed and left the room via a dark portal. The being then took out a painting of a woman. He looked at it as he stroked the image's hair with his thumb.

"Don't worry, my love, we shall be together again soon, so very soon."

8|:|8

AN: Next up, building the ship. And who is this dark being, and what is its goal?

New Heartless Data Track unlocked!

Solder: The most common of the Emblem Heartless, they use their sharp claw to try and cut their enemies to pieces.


End file.
